Dark past
by Blackhole116
Summary: There's much more to Camerons past than even House expected and its about to come back to haunt her. HouseCam eventually, my first House fic. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Dark past

Disclaimer: I do not own House, or any of its storylines or characters. If I did House and Cam would be together and Stacy would be in a very distant (and hopefully miserable) universe.

Author Note: My first House fic, please read and review, any criticism welcome. Also let me know if I should carry on.

-----

It was a crisp fall evening and Dr Cameron was getting ready for the night shift at Elmwood Cresent Hospital. She tucked her 9mm into the strap around her ankle, chuckling. None of her colleagues would ever suspect she even owned a gun. But they only knew the happy, friendly, nice Cameron. They knew nothing of her darker past.

"How did the interview go" her friend Lissa ambushed her as soon as she was through the hospital entrance. Cameron frowned, she had known the reputation of the infamous Dr Gregory House before her interview at Princeton Plainsboro but the extent of his sarcastic and caustic rhetoric had still managed to shock her.

"I don't know" Cameron replied frustrated.

-----

Cameron was overjoyed when she found she had gotten the job at Princeton Plainsboro. She put on the long white coat and automatically reached for the gun, after fingering it delicately she placed it back in its box. It was time for a proper new start, not like her "new start" at Elmwood Cresent, which had been a frantic effort to forget the old, to escape the past. Which you couldn't really do when you were still too paranoid and damaged to leave your 9 millimetre at home. Of course it wasn't really paranoia if you had good reason to fear. But this time she had convinced herself that even if they had managed to track her to Elmwood Cresent they wouldn't be able to find her at Princeton Plainsboro.

-----

10 months later.

Cameron slammed her door behind her as a tear slipped down her cheek. When she had pushed House into going on the date that hadn't exactly been how she was planning on it going. Although thinking back she didn't know why she had expected otherwise. Did he actually believe that all she wanted to do was fix him? It was ironic that he had got it so wrong, when one of the first reasons she had been attracted to him was that he saw right through her cheery exterior to who she really was and accepted it. Okay, so some of the cheeriness was real, and House had also in a strange way reminded her of that. She fingered the corsage similarly to the way she usually fingered her gun. "Damnit" after everything how did House manage to turn her soft so easily.

The next day she prepared herself to be perfectly composed for the inquisition she was sure to get from Foreman and Chase. But something had changed, she felt vulnerable again. So she sighed, so much for the 10 months of moving on. And attached what was possibly the most twisted form of a security blanket to her ankle.


	2. Contradictions

Dark past: chapter 2

Disclaimer; They are still not mine, although I do have some evil plans in the works to change that. Mwa ha ha.

Authors note: Thank-you to angry penguin, Val'istar En' Alu and Tracie for the reviews, I found them really encouraging. Sorry its taken me so long to update, sudden flood of assignments has been keeping me busy. Also sorry if this isn't much to do with the main plotline, have to have House and Cam in position first.

----

Allison Cameron was fed up. They had been avoiding each other ever since "the date." It was getting ridiculous; she had even heard from the nurses that House had _willingly_ done his clinic duty, just to perpetuate the avoidance. Although she doubted the truth of said rumours Allison still felt the familiar urge of wanting to express her feelings on the matter.

She chastised herself, reminding herself of the brilliant benefits reaped from the "I like you" conversation, and many others like it. House had chosen to push her away. Maybe it was time to let go. But… what about the monster trucks, that night was imprinted on her mind. It was what had her so convinced that House did actually have feelings for her. Cameron scoffed, if only her "college buddies" could see her acting like this little lost puppy. It would be worth exposure just to see the utter bewilderment on their faces. That thought awoke something in Allison and she decided it was time to shed the "innocent girl" niche she had so carefully constructed for herself. It was almost as bad as House hiding behind his snark. A wry smile graced her lips; maybe they really were just as damaged as each other.

----

Chase sat doing a crossword puzzle, House didn't want to see Cameron and that meant they couldn't actually take on any cases. He knew "the date" had practically had a neon disaster sign in front of it. But even though it had been expected he was still glad to realise it had gone badly, maybe he still had a chance with Cameron. He glanced at her over the crossword puzzle he was no longer paying attention to and gave her one of his patented charming smiles, that disarmed most patients.

Alison felt Chase's eyes on her, she looked up and threw him a half-hearted smile. Chase casually moved into the chair next to her. "Hey, how about we get a drink later?" Chase asked simply. Cameron had of course seen that coming, and had briefly thought about shooting him down just like she had the first time. She settled on "maybe another time. I'm quite tired." She needed more time to think things through. Almost as though her thought had been heard and in a direct effort to refuse her time, the quick thump-step of House stormed the room. Alison unconsciously crossed her legs and rubbed her foot against the holster of her gun.

"Differential diagnosis, people." House demanded writing the last of the symptoms on the whiteboard. Foreman walked in saying a quick sorry for being late and sat down. They all made suggestions and House sent them off to run tests. Cameron lingered after Chase and Foreman had left. She was going to confront House, but her confidence seemed to be ebbing away. Maybe the only way to get through his idiotic levels of stubbornness and sarcasm was through an act of idiocy itself.

"So when's the next date going to be?" She asked playfully. The intense blue of his eyes pierced her.

"Didn't realise you were into the torture thing too, you should hook up with Chase." He said sarcastically.

Alison rolled her eyes but decided to continue with matching sarcasm. "Why are you avoiding me? You were doing so well at being a jackass."

"I didn't want a stuffed animal made by Grandma crying in my office; I would have to whack you to death with my cane and Cuddy would be _really _mad." He replied, not mentioning the hint of disappointment he had felt at the outcome of their date or how he actually enjoyed the feeling he got when one of his quips made her smile. And then the words just decided to pop out of his mouth.

"If we went on another date, you'd have to where spandex." Even though she was trying to be serious and he was just teasing her, for some reason that made her smile.

"I have a better idea, we go on another date and don't do any analysing of each other, that seems to be our downfall." Alison said seriously.

"But what would we talk about? We're much too good for small-talk like the mere mortals." He joked.

"Maybe there wont be much time for talk." She winked at him, they were both surprised at her composure. "Saturday night, pick me up at seven." She smiled and continued mimicking him; "don't be late."

"I wont" He mirrored, bemused. What had just happened, he thought of taking it back. House had to keep his heart protected, and hers, this would all end badly. But she was already out the door, he sighed.

Colour was rising in Alison's cheeks, she breathed deeply. It felt like she was feeling the whole rainbow of emotions from anger; at him for many reasons and herself for the whole date thing, to joy at the idea of the whole date thing.

------

House's feelings were also plagued with annoying contradictions during the following week. They had a kind of awkward comfortableness around each other. In the way they allowed their fingers to brush as she handed him his coffee and in the lack of bitterness in House's snark towards her, just for starters. Excitement and anxiety. Hope and fear.

House was thinking actually thinking about how their second date would go when he heard someone call his name. He would have usually ignored whoever it was but the use of his first name surprised him, he turned around. And there she was, the woman he had loved, the woman who had betrayed him; Stacy.

-----

(AN: This scene is the same as what happened on the show.)

"What about drugs? His tox screen on admission showed a massive amount of chloral-hydrate." Chase suggested.

"Yeh, sorry, that was me, I had to dope him up to get him in here, guy doesn't think he is sick." House said.

"Who does?" Cameron asked.

"His wife." He replied.

"The woman you used to live with." Cameron stated.

"That's her Indian name, on her drivers' licence it's Stacy." Said House.

"I assume you have a point."

"You believe her over the patient himself. That's why we're taking this case."

"The truth, I hear voices, all the time, telling me to do stuff its crazy huh."

"What happened to everybody lies?

"I was lying."

------

Cameron was livid. House had just cancelled their date, so much for progress. He had said he needed to stay and figure out what was wrong with their latest patient. The one who had nothing wrong with him. Cameron knew Stacy's return had caused all of his defensive barriers to come back up. At the moment she had no idea what she was going to do.

House stood twirling his cane. He was frustrated, he couldn't figure out what was wrong with Mark Warner. He had seriously screwed up his chances with Cameron and Stacy was back filling him with confusion. He honestly didn't know whether having to stay late had just been an excuse or not. Stacy being here, had made him realise he really couldn't start anything with Cameron.


End file.
